He Who Fights with Monsters, #1
He Who Fights with Monsters
by Shirtaloon
Contents
21. I Have the Power
Overview
Jason absorbs his remaining essences—blood, sin, and their confluence, doom—reaching iron rank and gaining new abilities and resistances. The team notes the unusual absorption process, then watches Jason undergo a brutal impurity purge. Their discussion underscores team dynamics and future travel, while Jason’s advancement cements his trajectory as an adventurer.
Summary
Jason resumes essence absorption outdoors with Rufus, Farrah, and Gary supervising. The blood essence melts and invades his body with searing pain, but Jason endures and awakens Blood Harvest, a post-combat drain to restore health, stamina, and mana from recently deceased, blooded targets.
They discuss team balance and Anisa’s non-permanent role. Following Farrah and Rufus’s advice to seek synergy, Jason absorbs the sin essence. Light motes infuse him with pressure that eases, granting the Punish ability tied to his Recovery attribute.
Immediately, the three absorbed essences manifest as spectral cubes and fuse into a confluence: the doom essence. Urged by Rufus and Gary, Jason claims it, gaining Inexorable Doom and completing all four essences. Grey light pours from him as he reaches iron rank, acquiring damage reduction, resistance to normal-rank effects, aura sensing, and the ability to sustain himself via concentrated magic.
Exhilaration turns to nausea as the light retracts. Jason collapses, violently vomiting and exuding foul pus and bloody tears in an extreme impurity purge before passing out. The team, amused and sympathetic, notes they’ve never seen a purge so intense and joke about not warning him or telling him to strip first. They decide to leave him to recover.
Who Appears
- Jason AsanoOutworlder protagonist; absorbs blood, sin, and doom essences, reaches iron rank, gains new abilities, and undergoes a severe impurity purge.
- Rufus RemoreTeam leader; advises on essence order and urges Jason to accept the confluence essence; shows concern during the purge.
- Farrah MercerMage-scholar; clinically observes Jason’s absorption, notes unusual strain and purge, explains synergy and team composition.
- Gary BonesWarrior; encourages Jason, jokes about not warning him, refuses to move him after the purge.